Why did Nephi decapitate Laban?

[Mordecai]

I seriously doubt that Nephi took the time to consider that he was crafting a poetic bookend to the story of David and Goliath. Any thinking along those lines would have come much later, during the formal retelling of the story, but certainly not at the time.

Considering he was having a conversation with the Holy Ghost and arguing that he did NOT want to kill Laban, he didn't sound too adrenaline filled or anything like a teenager. He sounds like a thoughtful adult, attempting to serve God and his people as best he could.

[Mordecai]

This idea that a God, who is capable of taking life in an instant, would instead command his followers to kill his enemies is disgusting and dangerous.

How so? If God can do it Himself, why can't God command a man who would be king to do the job that kings are supposed to do, which is to make life and death decisions for the good of his people? I find nothing about this disgusting. Nephi was willing to do something that was against his own will, letting the good of his people come first. Nephi proves himself trustworthy as a king and steward for his future kingdom. If God did everything for us, we wouldn't be able to do a thing for ourselves. Why not just create a fantasy world for us, a matrix like universe without consequence or pain or misery? Now THAT would be a disgusting god and one I wouldn't worship.

[William Schryver]

Considering he was having a conversation with the Holy Ghost and arguing that he did NOT want to kill Laban, he didn't sound too adrenaline filled or anything like a teenager. He sounds like a thoughtful adult, attempting to serve God and his people as best he could.

I'd have rushing adrenaline if I was simultaneously carrying on a conversation with the Spirit of God and contemplating cutting off some guy's head. But hey, maybe I'm just a wimp ...

Incidentally, Nephi was "exceedingly young" at the time according to his own account. Not sure what that means, but I doubt it can be interpreted as "a thoughtful adult."

Then again, I'm neither one.

[William Schryver]

KC:

The paranoia expressed about LDS using the Laban story to justify murder of anyone at any time is just that, despite William Russell's Sunstone essay claiming that our texts should have warning labels. Rational readers recognize that Nephi's account is of an extraordinary situation. The text as a whole teaches as a general principle that murder is a crime, that warfare is terrible, and that peace is preferable to violence, and that the word is better than the sword. It is not rational to extract general principles of behavior from an extraordinary situation, particularly when Nephi himself expresses the general principles he wants and expects to live by in his own narration. Rational readers do not extract such a message from the text.

Well said. As per usual.

[USU78]

Yeah!

I mean, if it was good enough for Monsieur Guillotin and The Age of Reason, it's certainly good enough for me.

Of course, I'm all for going back to the public executions where they sell peanuts and popcorn and the preachers exhort the audience about the wages of sin.

Oui, oui! C'est la Belle Dame sans Merci, don'tcha know.

Folks forget that M. Guillotin's invention replaced death by ax or sword and was considered more humane.

But given available VIth Century B.C.E. technology, decapitation whilst wasted is about as mild as it gets.

USU "Whose knickers definitely don't get twisted over this incident" 78

[Stargazer]

I refuse to believe that God would be pleased to see Samuel murder Agag and mutilate his body after he had begged for mercy and witnessed the massacre of his people. I can't believe that a God would command a man to use his son for a human sacrifice as a test of obedience, and I cannot swallow the story that Nephi would be commanded by the Holy Spirit to decapitate a drunken, defenseless man lying in the gutter of a street. What kind of a God is this? If there was such a thing as the devil, this would be his doctrine and there is no defense for it.

You clearly don't then believe that God permitted his only begotten son to be nailed to a cross and sacrificed, either.

What kind of a God is this? The only one you got. Or do you have another candidate?

[Zakuska]

You clearly don't then believe that God permitted his only begotten son to be nailed to a cross and sacrificed, either.

What kind of a God is this? The only one you got. Or do you have another candidate?

What kind of God? The kind of a God who would tell his prophet to commit adultuery.

Hosea 3:1

[divinenature]

The only laws that we *know* we're given to Nephi are the commandment not to murder/kill and D&C 98.

If we read D&C 98 carefully it appears that Nephi was not in compliance with this law. Previous to verse 28 is talking about the first, second and third time that the enemy comes upon you. Then we see what happens after the third time. (emphisis mine)

28 And now, verily I say unto you, if that enemy shall escape my vengeance, that he be not brought into judgment before me, then ye shall see to it that ye warn him in my name, that he come no more upon you, neither upon your family, even your children

[Cold Steel]

This is a misinterpretation of Exodus 21:13, which was supposed to be given as a sanctuary for inadvertent homicide, applied when blood was shed accidentally, not "justly." The idea is that God may have intended the victim to die, but that the death was not intended by the killer. This does not apply to Nephi.

God commanded Joshua to kill the Canaanites, who were inhabited the promised land of the Jews. And Moses also slew the Midians. "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 'Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.' So Moses spoke to the people, saying, 'Arm some of yourselves for war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the LORD on Midian. A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.'

So there were recruited from the divisions of Israel one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ...And they warred against the Midianites, just as the LORD commanded Moses, and they killed all the males. They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed

[Doug the Hutt]

Found this in the official LDS Seminary manual that they teach our kids:

1Nephi 4:10

[Jason]

Actually, when you receive a commandment from a prophet of God that seems out of line with what you know, you can go to God yourself and get confirmation as to where the commandment really came from.

The story of Nephi and Laban follows this pattern by the way - Nephi asked for confirmation before acting.

[SeekerB]

Most of this has been said before, but I have thought similar things when reading 1 Ne.

1. Laban was a murderer, and his death at the hands of Nephi was NOT murder.

2. If Laban was left alive, his army would have pursued them into the desert. Without Laban, the army would be in disarray. Lehi and his family would now be safe. This was the simplest solution to protect them. God is efficient. He doesn't take elaborate measures when simplicity will do.

3. I thought about blood on the clothes and figured that either he removed them first or just donned the armor after wiping it off with Laban's garments.

4. It was a test for Nephi to be obedient to whatever was commanded of him.